The King of Ash and Dust
by Ioannis
Summary: The young Maoh of Shin Makoku wanted to avoid war at all costs. But now that conflict has suddenly caught Shin Makoku off gaurd, Yuuri will have come to terms with what he will sacrifice to keep his loved ones safe, and learn what it means to be a Demon King at war.
1. Foreboding

**Chapter 1: Foreboding**

* * *

Gwendal hadn't told Yuuri about the first attack.

A small border village had burned – there were no civilian casualties. The village was a few cottages at most, used only in the winter by soldiers who patrolled the border and needed a place to rest and escape from the cold. The gray-haired mazoku wasn't pleased to learn that two patrol men had burned in their sleep, and sent a few men to collect their effects.

He might have chalked it up as an accident, a candle flame gone astray. But then Josak returned covered in ashes, carrying a scorched head with the torn banner of Shin Makoku shoved in its mouth.

Gwendal sent the Spymaster out to investigate the matter, and ordered that not a word be said to the king. Josak returned two weeks later without a shred of information.

The next attack could not be hidden from the Maoh.

Four small boxes were delivered to Yuuri one day in early spring, brought by an anonymous messenger. The double-black had opened the first of the boxes while signing papers with Gwendal in his personal office.

Gwendal was shocked out of his monotonous signing when Yuuri jumped out of his chair with a sickened gasp, shoving the box away from him and promptly running from the room. Gwendal had run to the box, feeling himself go pale when he found the contents to be a severed arm. A left arm, to be exact.

Gwendal found Yuuri clinging to Conrart with teary eyes.

Conrart's soldiers, whose morning practice had been interrupted by the abrupt arrival of the king, looked on worriedly. After both brothers spent a good ten minutes reassuring the king that Conrart was unharmed and had both his arms, all three returned to the office to investigate.

Much to Gwendal's disgust, the other three boxes contained exactly what he'd feared they would: a heart, an eye, and a jar of crimson blood.

It was a well-kept secret that Yuuri's blood was a key to the fourth and final box of power, Mirror's Depth. Although the box was originally lost in the world where Yuuri had come from, the Old Gods pursued it and carried it to this world - before they were banished by the young Maoh. Now all four boxes were locked away below Shinou's temple, guarded by Murata and a thousand of Ulrike's women warriors.

Once again Josak was summoned. Gwendal doubted that the event of a few months prior had anything to do with this disturbance, but nevertheless he ordered the Spymaster to find something, anything.

This time the spy did return with information, and a culprit: Big Shimeron.

The mutilated body of a Shin Makoku ambassador had been found inside King Belar's territory, many of its parts missing. Specifically its heart, an arm, an eye, and all of its blood. Further investigation revealed that the commanding officer of Belar's palace guards had been the one to order the ambassador killed.

Who the officer had received _his_ orders from remained a mystery and therefore couldn't be blamed on the rival country, but it didn't take much thought to figure out that Belar was sending a message to Yuuri: his interest in the boxes had been sparked, and he knew who had the keys.

"Belar is trying to be discrete." Gwendal explained in a private meeting to Yuuri, Wolfram, and Conrart (though he knew Conrart was already two steps ahead of himself), "It's been four years since we hid the boxes underground, their existence has been mostly forgotten. Belar doesn't want to remind the other kingdoms that we hold these tools of mass destruction-"

"Or he's threatening to." Conrart muttered darkly.

"-Or that. But either way, he's trying to spook us. We don't know what he wants with the boxes yet, but he's telling us he knows they exist and he doesn't want to share."

Gwendal feared that Yuuri had been successfully 'spooked', so to speak. While the black-haired youth was nearing only his twentieth birthday, he had seen quite a lot of conflict in his years in Shin Makoku. He was no stranger to blood, despite several recent seasons of peace in the kingdom.

Still, Yuuri's eyes had remained a little too-wide the past few days, a haunted look about them. Those boxes might have hit a little too close to home for the Maoh.

However, the third attack was truly the definition of 'hitting too close to home'.

While Yuuri was returning to his room a few days later, an arrow flew from beyond a castle balcony and found its way to Yuuri's shoulder. It was of careful aim and not meant to be fatal, but it lodged deeply into the joint and wrenched a pained yell from him all the same.

Wolfram had snarled for the guards to be on alert while they waited for medics to arrive. The blonde had used the slip of his nightgown to apply pressure to where the arrow was lodged, and refused to leave his fiancé's side even when Yuuri was taken to the medical wing (the king refused to be carried). Gwendal and Conrart swept the outside courtyard with a fiery intensity, but no attackers or assassins were found.

Gwendal later heard from Wolfram of the agony Yuuri endured when Gisela removed the arrow – apparently it had been barbed, which made Conrart positively seethe.

But even more worrisome was when Wolfram presented the bloodied arrow to his brothers, and Conrart discovered the shaft to be hollow. Inside was a rolled message on parchment, demanding that the boxes be surrendered to the Big Shimeron ambassadors that would be arriving in three days' time.

No such ambassadors had sent warning of their arrival, and Gwendal was half-convinced that the attack on Yuuri had been a rouse to frame Big Shimeron for a rebel group's deed. But the next morning, Josak sent word that a group from Big Shimeron, led by Belar's Chief Ambassador himself, had crossed the border with several empty wagons in tow.

Despite the protests of his advisors, Yuuri met with the Ambassadors when they arrived two days later. He sat stoically on his throne, shoulder braced and arm in sling, and stared down the intruding men with black eyes (that Gwendal could have sworn were even blacker than usual).

The ambassadors did not demand the boxes, but they alluded to the message in so many words and feigned concern for King Yuuri's well-being in a way that made Gwendal bristle.

If this had been several years ago, Gwendal was sure that Yuuri would have quaked in his boots, folded under the pressue, and ordered the boxes to be surrendered. But the Yuuri now had grown, and knew there was more at stake than just his life if he gave the boxes to Big Shimeron.

"I'm sorry ambassadors, but I cannot help you." Yuuri had said in an unusually cold voice, which seemed to be more Maoh than Yuuri.

"You see, I do not allow snakes in my castle. They frighten the maids, and then nothing gets done. Because you see, maids are the backbone of a kingdom."

The throne room was so silent that even the guards at the far end could hear the words of their king.

"I am afraid that you have come all this way for nothing. We do not have what you desire, and – besides the fact - would never give such powerful demon objects to serpents such as you."

The ambassadors lost all trace of their previous cheeriness, and the Chief Ambassador, a quick-witted man who Gwendal knew as Petur Linde, revealed his true colors.

"We know you have them, Maoh!" Linde growled, narrowing his eyes dangerously at the King. "The other kingdoms may have forgotten, but the fact that you stole a box from us remains sharp in our minds!"

"Such an item was never yours in the first place!" Wolfram hissed from his place next to Yuuri's throne, "Demon items have never belonged to _humans_!"

Yuuri raised a hand to silence Wolfram, but Linde took the blonde's outburst as initiative to keep arguing.

"Thieves!" Linde spat back, face indignant. "You intend to destroy us! There is no other reason for you to have collected all the boxes in one place!"

"The boxes were never ours to control." Yuuri replied sharply. "Nor are they anyone else's. The boxes are old magic, created with evil purpose. We have no such ill-intention, which is why we collected them in the first place. Your intentions, meanwhile, seem quite obvious."

Yuuri gestured to his shoulder, pain flashing across his face for the briefest of moments. Linde opened his mouth to argue, but Yuuri cut him off with a steely glare.

"They are out of our hands, _and_ our realm."

Gwendal knew it was a lie (though not a complete one), Conrart and Wolfram too. But the boxes would not be safe in Big Shimeron, especially in the hands of Belar. If they had to lie to divert Belar's focus elsewhere, even for a little while, then so be it.

Meanwhile, the grey-haired advisor could tell Yuuri had reached his limit. The young Maoh's body was rigid with pain, and his eyes were beginning to glaze from the large amounts of medication Gisela had forced into his body.

"Give Belar my regards, sirs." The King's voice was steady, betraying nothing. "I must insist you leave now."

Linde and his fellow ambassadors began to scream at Yuuri as he rose from his throne.

A bright flash of lightning that bathed the throne room in light stunned the red-faced men into silence, and the deafening crack of thunder that followed shook the castle walls and had them flinching away from the Demon King.

When Yuuri moved to leave again, not a voice was raised in protest.

"Be wary of the lightning, sirs" said a guard as the ambassadors were surrounded to be escorted out of the castle. His voice was a faint echo as Gwendal and his brothers ushered their king out of the throne room, who slumped against Wolfram as soon as the visitors were out of sight. "It's known to be quite destructive in this area."

* * *

That had been two weeks ago.

Gwendel hadn't heard anything from Josak, or from any soldiers or spies for that matter. Big Shimeron was silent.

Yuuri continued his lessons with Gunter, though he now studied more advanced subjects than years prior. The King had grown into himself more – if anything, the sling helped to complete that look.

His hair was longer and haloed his face now, though it was still unruly and at times drove Gunter mad. His body was longer, his shoulders were broader, and thanks to Conrart, he had the muscles to fill them out. His face had sharper features now, much of his baby-ish roundness burned away with training and age. He was still somewhat slender due to his half-Japanese origins, but he radiated strength and his presence demanded attention in any room he entered.

Despite the chaos of the past few months, Celi had planned a rather large celebration for Yuuri's 20th birthday. She was not happy with Gwendal when he told her they would have to scale it down and greatly limit the guests.

They weren't at war, not yet. But inviting too many partiers that couldn't be monitored was courting tragedy for their king, and anyone else of importance attending the party.

Eventually his mother agreed, albeit begrudgingly, and they limited the guest list down to only aristocratic families and minimal servants. The Capitol would be free to celebrate in the streets, recent tradition since Yuuri began his rule, but the castle gates would be locked and closely guarded by Conrart's hand-selected soldiers.

So plans continued to be made, and life went on as normal.

Then the festive day suddenly arrived, and Yuuri awoke to breakfast in bed with Greta and Wolfram (who had made the slightly-singed food themselves). Afterwards the mismatched trio came downstairs for presents, where all of Yuuri's adopted family was waiting (Gwendal included).

It was a simple known fact that when Yuuri was happy, everyone was happy.

When the black-haired youth came downstairs and beamed at the sight of everybody waiting for him, Gwendal couldn't help the smile that came to his usually stiff face.

The king's arm was still in a sling (although Gisela promised him that it would soon be able to come off, to which Yuuri cried to the heavens "the best gift of them all!"), so Greta enthusiastically helped him open his gifts.

The brothers usually stuck with similar gifts every year – as usual, Gwendal had made him a stuffed creature, although he feared that Yuuri would soon outgrow them and he would have to find another gift. Conrart gave him a functional dagger, which he promised to teach Yuuri how to throw later.

Wolfram gave his fiancé a cookbook of Shin Makoku delicacies. The king was still learning about the culture of his kingdom and possessed quite a thirst for knowledge regarding any kind of history or aspect of Shin Makoku culture. Yuuri seemed to like this gift a lot despite the fact he couldn't cook very well, and promised Greta they would try together sometime.

Celi had splurged on her gift as usual – she had no gift in hand, but jumped excitedly and told Yuuri that she had purchased him another horse to keep Ao company.

"He's black as midnight, Heika!" she proclaimed, a dreamy look crossing her face. "He compliments your hair so nicely, and he's so spirited!"

Yuuri looked happy but a bit embarrassed that she had gotten him such a big gift, knowing that black horses were a rarity in Shin Makoku. But Yuuri had mastered horseback riding and now enjoyed to ride as often as he could, so the gift was very well received.

Gunter gave him a whole pile of books on Shin Makoku history, proclaiming that he had very recently dug them up from an old back room and reassured Yuuri that he had not read them before.

Anissina gave him a flying machine that looked much like a bird. She demonstrated its use by picking up a muffin from the table and heaving it at Yuuri. The machine cawed and soared into the muffin's trajectory, spread its wings, and seemed to transform midair into a suspended shield. There was a light clang as the muffin bounced off and thudded onto the ground, and then the shield was a bird again as it folded its wing and flew into Yuuri's shirt pocket.

Everyone couldn't help but clap at the demonstration – Gwendal found himself impressed that the machine hadn't malfunctioned in a huge way, or exploded.

"It's for detecting and blocking arrows." Anissina said quietly, which sobered up everyone in the room immediately.

Greta brought it upon herself to break the awkward silence, and presented her gift to Yuuri. They were a pair of earrings, the set stones a gold and hazel color like Greta's eyes. Yuuri loved them so much, he proclaimed he was going to get his ears pierced just then and picked up Greta (although she was fourteen years old and quite heavy) and carried her off to Gisela's office.

Gwendal chuckled at the pair, and then everyone began their morning duties.

Yuuri made a point of staying out of the castle during the day: Gwendal had allowed him to skip paperwork for the day, and Wolfram would no doubt be looking for him to begin preparing his outfit for the ball that evening.

Instead, Conrart and Gwendal accompanied the king out to the barn to assess the new horse Celi had bought him, only to find a surprise there instead.

"That is not a leisure horse." Conrart said bluntly after laying eyes upon the black stallion for the first time.

The black mount had been released into a small corral for exercising, and currently cantered the perimeter of the fence restlessly. It was tall and muscular, hooves the size of dinner plates, and a solid arching neck supported a large head with intelligent and calculating eyes. Its mane was cropped short, its tail also cut right above his hocks. Its body was peppered with small silver scars that shone in the sunlight.

"Mother bought you a war horse, Yuuri." Gwendal mused dryly, mostly to himself, as Yuuri made an effort to close his gaping mouth.

"He's massive!" Yuuri said in disbelief, jogging up to the corral to get a better look.

Conrart groaned and covered his face with a calloused hand, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Their mother was never one to put much thought into things; she had probably seen the horse at a market in a foreign country and thought it looked pretty, never mind that it was trained for battle, could be commanded to attack, and was more aggressive than the usual horse.

"He must have cost a fortune." Was all Conrart had to offer on the matter, and Gwendal found himself silently agreeing.

Yuuri had climbed up onto the fence, reaching a hand out in offering to the horse. Of course Yuuri was a natural charmer, even with animals, so the horse came over without much persuasion despite its wary nature. The horse nuzzled Yuuri's hand with giant lips, making the king smile and laugh effortlessly.

"_Anata no omanae wa Takai desu, ne_?" Yuuri told the horse happily and stroked it between the eyes, unconsciously speaking Japanese.

"I…what?" Gwendel found himself once again confused with the double-black's foreign language, and turned to his half-blood brother for translation.

Conrart was smirking, watching his godson with amused eyes.

"He's naming the horse Takai, huh."

"It means 'tall'!" Yuuri grinned, and then turned his attention back to his new steed.

Remembering that his other horse's name, 'Ao', meant 'blue', Gwendal concluded that his Heika named things simply, and catalogued the thought away for a later, undetermined use.

* * *

Wolfram inevitably found Yuuri and dragged him inside as the afternoon drew to a close and evening began.

All throughout the week, servants had been decorating the halls of the castle for this ball, and now Gwendal found that it felt like a completely different place. The halls were clean, and brightly lit candles covered every archway. Flowers adorned the palace stairs, and the grand ballroom was covered head to toe in lights, flowers bred from Celi's garden, and other expensive decorations. Yuuri had insisted on it being a costume party, because 'everyone has more when they're in costumes, ne!'

Gwendal hated parties.

They were loud, people got drunk, and there was always a mess afterwards. Even worse, with a tedious political situation, parties were the perfect time to put a dagger hilt-deep in someone's back.

Gwendel sighed deeply and adjusted the tie on his costume. He knew this was going to be a long night.

Though, little did he know, Big Shimaron's fourth attack had already begun.

* * *

**Well, here's another KKM fic! I promise I haven't forgotten about Dragonborn, huehuehue. This chapter is in Gwendal's POV, which is not going to be a regular thing. But I never get to write Gwendel, and he seems like the insider type of guy who knows whats going on in the kingdom - perfect for starting off a war fic.**

**The idea for this fic came to me while I was driving to work this morning, and some Les Mis songs came on, and I thought 'You know, I want to write a fic where everyone dies.' (EDIT: GUYS OMG I WAS JOKING) And then proceeded to write this all day. Though, really, I dont read many fics where Yuuri is out in battle fighting with swords and armor! He's a really sheltered guy, isn't he? I think he would kick some major butt on a battle field considering that Conrart has been teaching him, and I kind of really wanted to write that.**

**Also as a side note: I didn't know if you could tell, but I really like horses. I've studied a lot of history and really like war horses a lot. Takai is actually based of off Bucephalus, the famous black war horse of Alexander the Great (google him, he's really cool, and you'll get an idea of what Takai looks like).**

**Drop me a review if you enjoyed!**


	2. The Fourth Strike

**Chapter 2: The Fourth Strike**

* * *

Yuuri loved parties. He loved costumes. It was his birthday. Gisela had given him permission to take off the sling for the occasion.

He was feeling pretty good right now.

After Wolfram had taken him from the training yard where he was practicing dagger throwing with Conrart, it was nothing but preparing for the rest of the day. Preparing his and Greta's outfit, preparing his speech, preparing the security detail.

Okay, so he wasn't super excited about the security detail. Even if it was Conrart that was going to be following him around all evening, he still wasn't fond of the fact that his every move was going to be watched, all of his food and drinks tested. He didn't like feeling unsafe in his own home.

Gwendal had been on edge ever since Yuuri kicked out the ambassadors from Big Shimeron. He didn't remember much of the exchange – He had been pretty out of it on pain medication, and from what Wolfram told him, it was the Maoh who had done most of the talking. But Conrart reassured him that the slippery ambassadors deserved everything they got, which only made Yuuri worry more about what exactly he had said.

But Big Shimeron hadn't _done_ anything since then, which is why everyone around here was so miserable. Belar was too hot-headed to just let something like that go, even if he had bought Yuuri's lie that the boxes were elsewhere. It was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped.

Gwendal was sure the enemy king would try to get even, and even Yuuri had to admit that this party was a good opportunity to do so. He found himself bouncing back and forth between being extremely happy and sighing a lot in the hours leading up to his party.

"Make up your mind, wimp!" Wolfram growled as he helped Yuuri put on his vampire costume, "Your emotional see-saw is giving me whiplash!"

That made Yuuri crack a grin. Once he had tightly buttoned up his red vest over a puffy white dress shirt, the blonde mazoku tightly secured a heavy red and black cape around Yuuri's shoulders with a ruby pin. Anissina had helped him glue on some fake fangs earlier, and he found himself secretly hoping that the glue she used was not permanent.

Once Wolfram fixed his hair, Yuuri turned to Greta (who was wearing an authentic kimono from his homeland) and gave a menacing hiss. Greta rolled her eyes and pinched Yuuri's cheeks.

"You can't scare me anymore, Yuu-_ri_." Greta teased, sticking out her tongue. "I'm not a little girl."

Indeed, Yuuri was quite aware of how close together their ages were. It was shocking to think that Greta would look older than Wolfram in only a few years – something Yuuri was already beginning to do.

"Why do you even want to be a vampire?" Wolfram wrinkled his nose at the sight of Yuuri's finished costume. "Blood-drinkers died out hundreds of years ago, and it's not even Hollow-what's-it—"

"Halloween." Yuuri and Greta corrected at once.

"Exactly!" Wolfram shouted, waving his hands. "It's July on Earth! Not Octopus-bear-"

"October." Greta squeaked, trying not to laugh.

"You make it out to be strange, when you're the one wearing a pirate costume." Yuuri grinned, gesturing to Wolfram's blue pirate get-up. "It's not even a sailor-fuku, like those actual pirates were wearing."

Wolfram's face went blank, and Yuuri remembered that Wolfram probably didn't know what a sailor-fuku was. He didn't visit the human world nearly as often as Yuuri and Greta used to.

"Never mind." Yuuri waved, and quickly leaned to adjust the obi on Greta's kimono before she squirmed away.

"Stop it!" she pouted and swatted Yuuri's hand away. "It looks fine!"

"You just look too pretty, Greta." Yuuri sighed, putting on the face of a concerned father. "What am I going to do if some suitor tries to come and steal you away?"

"We'll have them beheaded." Wolfram said with a voice all too serious.

Looking annoyed, Greta firmly pinched both of their noses before storming out the door. A guard was quick to leave with her – one of Conrart's hand-picked soldiers. Yuuri was sure Greta would be sick of being watched by the end of the night as well, but Conrart had even selected a female warrior so that Greta could be followed into the lavatory.

"Gwendal's really not taking any chances, huh?" Yuuri became sober as he stared at the door where his adopted daughter had just left.

Wolfram harrumphed, smacking Yuuri squarely on the back.

"We just don't want anything to happen to you, _wimp_."

Yuuri grimaced at the familiar, overused nickname.

"You're my fiancé, Wolfram." The double-black reminded. "You're in just as much danger as I am."

"But we'll keep both of you safe, yeah?"

Both the young men turned in time to see a head of red hair poking through Yuuri's bedroom door.

Josak smiled, swinging the heavy wooden door inwards to reveal that Conrart was also there, standing behind the Spymaster. Josak was adorned in a frilly maid dress, one that Yuuri knew was a favorite disguise of the Spy's. Conrart was… not in costume. Looked like Yuuri's guardian was forgoing festivities so he could dedicate his full attention to Yuuri.

"You two ready?" Josak grinned, and took up position at Wolfram's left.

Wolfram unconsciously shifted away from the redhead, his face betraying his discomfort. The blonde had told Yuuri once that he could never be at peace around people who dealt in secrets for a living.

Yuuri nodded, watching his godfather as his fellow half-blooded man held the door open for their party. Their gazes met for a brief moment. Yuuri saw the usual friendliness there that his godfather's eyes had always held for the double-black, but there was a fiery intensity there that made Yuuri's stomach clench.

The group of four departed from the king's chambers, and was quickly joined by an additional group of soldiers who took up position around the king.

"_Geez_…" Yuuri hummed under his breath, appraising the heavy armor of the Palace Guards.

"By the way, Heika," Josak piped up. "I forgot ta wish you a happy birthday! I didn't get th' chance to come by this morning an' say it, I had some errands around the Capitol."

Yuuri felt his spirits lift higher.

"Thanks, Josak."

"I figured you'd want ta know, since I'm sure ya haven't left the grounds all day, that the people of the Capital are wishin' ya a happy birthday, too. Party-in' all over the streets with lanterns and flowers an' cake."

Yuuri found himself elated and mortified – happy that so many people were celebrating and having fun, but also really embarrassed that they were all celebrating _him_. He felt his face go a bit hot.

"Don't be concerned, Yuuri," Conrart replied calmly, "It's good for the people to let loose every once in a while."

They chatted idly for a while longer, and then the group found themselves at the doors to the Grand Ballroom. Yuuri traced the intricate carvings on the doors with appreciative eyes. He only came this way for special events and didn't get many opportunities to lay eyes on the decorative doors carved with the history of Shin Makoku. How many kings had walked through this archway, he wondered.

Two palace guards opened the door for Yuuri and his escorts, revealing a large, brightly lit dance floor covered in mazoku wearing colorful costumes. A small orchestra played instruments that Yuuri did not know the names of, creating a joyful tune that Yuuri's guests were dancing in jovial circles to.

The ballroom was adorned with Celi's flowers: the blues and oranges of Beautiful Wolframs and Conrart Stands Upon the Earths, the purples and scarlets of Secret Gwendals and Cecille's Red Sighs. There was an overwhelming presence of ornate, corked vases that seemed to be made of marble, and of white flowers: a recent creation Celi named "Filled with Yuuri's Naiveté". Yuuri couldn't say he was overly fond of the name.

There was a lull in the music as Yuuri and Wolfram stepped forward towards the top of the staircase that fanned out below them to the dance floor.

"His Majesty," boomed a voice from somewhere to Yuuri's left, "and Twenty-Seventh Maoh of the Great Demon Kingdom, King Yuuri."

There was a great cheer and clamor as the guests began to swarm the foot of the staircase, in anticipation of Yuuri's descent.

"Accompanied by," the booming voice continued, drowning out all noise below, "his fiancé, Lord Wolfram von Bielefelt, and Sword Master of Shin Makoku, Conrart Weller."

Yuuri and Wolfram laced arms, and began to carefully (Yuuri was quite clumsy and prone to tripping) walk down the staircase towards the excited crowd below. The music resumed.

"Positions." Conrart ordered gruffly to his soldiers, getting a few "Yessir!"s and "Captian!"s in reply before they shuffled discretely outward, and Conrart and Josak closely flanked their marks.

Yuuri was always happy to see his subjects, whether they be aristocrats or laborers. He freed his arm from Wolfram's to better shake hands and clap shoulders as they met the waiting crowd, and immediately began socializing with the nobles around him.

Once, a long time ago, he had not been so good with people. He had been quiet and timid, and his helplessness had gotten him flushed down a toilet. Even once Gunter and Celi's three sons had gotten ahold of him, he had still remained quite terrible at effectively communicating.

But then he started to become aware of his own political weight, and realized that a single conversation could be the difference between prosperity and an age of war for his people.

And with that realization, he grew. He noticeably became more earnest in conversations, and more careful about what he said.

Politics was not a game.

Various memebers from the Ten Aristocratic Families came and went in wishing him good health (for the most part, at least; several older members and the heads were always a bit cranky with him), and he was able to see acquaintances among the servants, who he always acknowledged with an enthusiastic wave.

Wolfram dragged him onto the dance floor more than once, and even though everyone in the kingdom and beyond knew Yuuri had two left feet, many onlookers cheered and clapped heartily for the king and his fiancé.

He saw Greta every now and then. She seemed to weave in and out of the crowd, talking excitedly with any young mazoku or human she could find. It seemed that Yuuri and Wolfram really might have to keep an eye on her – she was at that age, after all. Undoubtedly she would invite some young girl or boy over one day and her two fathers would have to actually put on some scary faces to keep her conquest in line.

There were not as many people there as he expected there to be, maybe a hundred at most. Gwendal must have really cut down on the guest list. He saw the oldest of Wolfram's brothers lingering on the edges of the party in full military dress (did that count as a costume?), most likely to avoid the advances of admirers and better survey the crowd.

Yuuri found his gaze lingering on anyone with dark hair, or glasses. There was one friend he wanted to see, another man of importance such as him that he had not seen in a long time-

"Shi-bu-ya!"

Yuuri gasped in surprise and turned around, promptly meeting the shining gaze of Ken Murata.

"Ken!" Yuuri beamed and embraced his old childhood friend in a giant hug.

Murata laughed and patted Yuuri solidly on the back, before the two separated.

"Happy birthday, Shibuya!" Murata greeted, straightening his wizard robes. "It's been ages, huh? Good to see you haven't outgrown your taste in parties."

Yuuri smirked, showing off his vampire fangs.

"Just like old times, huh?" Yuuri teased, finding himself overwhelmed with excitement to see the only other double black in the kingdom. "Costumes never stop being awesome."

"Indeed, indeed." Murata bobbed his head in agreement. "And Cecille knows how to throw a good party."

The conversation lulled for a minute as the two double-blacks watched some dancers in silence.

"How's the Temple, Ken? Holding up?"

"…For the most part." Murata mused, still watching the orchestra. "It was built to hold Shinou, after all. Those walls are no stranger to destructive forces."

"…That bad?" Yuuri winced.

The Boxes had been hidden there for four years. They contained immeasurable power that could very easily extinguish all life in this world, but Ken had volunteered to watch over them when the Old Gods had been vanquished. The Great Sage had the knowledge and power to keep the dark energy of the boxes stable.

One day they would be able to destroy the boxes once and for all. But if Yuuri attempted it now, it would create an energy blast so great that Shin Makoku would be wiped off the map.

So yeah, that wasn't an option. They could only hope that the power of the boxes would dwindle the longer they remained inactive.

"It's like a never-ending game of tug-of-war." Ken sighed, pushing his slipping glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It gets a bit exhausting after a while."

And then Yuuri could see it: the dark rings under Ken's eyes, the way his old friend slouched, the way his shoulders trembled faintly, as his supporting his body upright was taking effort.

Yuuri frowned, happiness being sapped away by guilt.

"Ken…"

"It's nice to have a break every once in a while. A costume party every few years or so is a nice change in scenery." Ken smiled reassuringly and patted Yuuri on the shoulder. "Though I dare not stay for more than a few hours. It would be bad if a national catastrophe happened while I was away."

"Your Majesty!"

Yuuri turned to see a woman in witch costume coming quickly towards him, her face unfamiliar to him. The ever-present shadow of Conrart flickered into the corner of his vision.

Yuuri noticed her eyes first – they were a bright violet and sparkled with the presence of magic. The woman seemed to be in her late twenties, her long hair a red-brown, much like Conrart's. Oddly enough, though, Yuuri could not sense any maryoku within her. Maybe she was half-mazoku like he and Conrart, although half-bloods rarely had the ability to use maryoku.

"Your Majesty." The woman greeted breathlessly once she was in front of the king properly. "It is an honour to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is mine." Yuuri replied politely, inclining his head for a brief moment. "You are…?"

"Eliza Quick, Sire." Eliza bowed deeply. "I am a priestess of the Temple of Shinou."

"She's my companion for the evening." Ken coughed.

"I must not let his Highness overexert himself." Eliza corrected. "High Priestess Ulrike would end me."

Yuuri looked back over his shoulder at Ken, a sly grin creeping over his face. _Babysitter?_ His friend fixed him with a scowl and punched his shoulder, _hard_.

Yuuri blanched as white hot pain shot down his arm, and he momentarily lost his composure.

"Oh, shit, sorry Shibuya, I forgot—"

"That's okay!" Yuuri squeaked out, waving away Conrart and Ken, who had jumped forward to steady him. He leaned heavily on a table next to him, no way to alleviate the pain of his still-healing wound. "Easy mistake! Bone takes longer to mend than flesh, you know!"

Eliza looked positively mortified, even though she had had no hand in anything that just transpired.

"Your Majesty! Can I get you some water?"

"Not necessary, but thank you, Miss Quick." Yuuri exhaled as he collected himself and stood up straight once again.

Eliza didn't lose her concerned expression as Yuuri returned a softer punch to Ken's shoulder in retaliation, which Murata did not attempt to block.

"Yuuri!"

And suddenly Wolfram was there, tugging lightly on Yuuri's cape. The blonde mazoku showed no indication of having seen Yuuri's moment of weakness.

"It's almost time for your speech."

Ahhh, right. His annual birthday speech: thanking everyone for coming and being supportive of him and blah blah blah. It was more of a formality, one he took little pleasure in. He didn't like being the center of attention.

"Oh, right. Well, we can talk some more later Ken, okay?"

Ken beamed and nodded, getting some kind of sick amusement out of watching Yuuri being toted around by the arm by his fiancé.

Yuuri once again found himself on the staircase; though this time he was positioned less than halfway up, so that he was only slightly above his guests.

His feet felt heavy as he took his place, a sudden feeling of dread washing over him. He couldn't identify why he suddenly felt so nervous out of the blue and tried to shake it off. The feeling stayed.

Gunter had fetched a bottle of fine wine from the castle's cellar himself– it was sealed and unopened, of course. It passed hands from Gunter to Conrart to Wolfram, and then the blonde mazoku uncorked it and poured Yuuri a glass.

Yuuri did that thing that people liked to do at weddings when they needed attention – got a spoon and dinged it against the glass.

A hundred eyes were suddenly watching him. The music died instantly, a few instruments released low-pitched wails as they were stopped mid-note. Everyone was cast into a hushed, anticipating silence that had Yuuri once again feeling anxious.

"Friends," Yuuri raised his glass to the guests before him. Many of them returned the gesture, though their glasses were empty. "Family." To Wolfram and Conrart, who were very near him. "I am honoured by your presence today…"

And so the speech went. Yuuri was not a gifted speaker by far, and Gunter had helped him with getting the wording of his sincere message right. The seconds ticked by like hours. It was all pretty bland in Yuuri's opinion, but it was necessary.

As he spoke, his eyes drifted from Wolfram, to Conrart, to Gwendal, who was still watching Yuuri with hawk-like eyes. Yuuri retured the stare evenly, before moving his gaze elsewhere.

"Conflict will find us, wherever we may go. But Shin Makoku is strong, and when everyone is united, I have no doubt that we will all pull through – together."

After several minutes of speaking, Yuuri concluded by raising his glass once more. His audience clapped loudly, and then seemed to move all at once to get their own wine from the servants who came forth with opened bottles.

For the briefest of moments, Yuuri thought he could smell something burning. He took a sip from his own glass.

The first explosion happened so fast, Yuuri barely even noticed it.

He might have missed it all together, had the shell-shock that followed not nearly knocked him down the stairs.

The blast had come from behind him, from the giant oak doors from whence he had arrived through. The shocked faces of the guests below him were momentarily illuminated by green light, before the flames overtook his vision.

He lost track of everything for a few seconds. Everything around him was fire and heat and chunks of rubble, and his ears rang so loudly he swore he would never hear anything again.

And then he was on the ground, a large heavy body on top of him. The edges of the stairs dug painfully into his ribs, but the heat was not nearly as intense as it was before. Large, calloused hands held Yuuri down and smacked out the flames that had easily caught on Yuuri's silk cloak, before it was ripped off altogether and discarded somewhere.

Yuuri noted offhandedly that the vampire fangs had been knocked loose from his mouth, although one seemed to have left a deep wound in his tongue.

"Conrart! What-"Yuuri yelled hoarsely to the man on top of him (quickly realizing he couldn't hear his own voice), but was abruptly interrupted by cracking stone, and more explosions.

Through a gap under Conrart's arm, Yuuri could see the chaos unfold like a domino effect.

The small marble vases, the ones he had seen when he first entered the ballroom, were imploding one by one like bombs, and from the explosions erupted green flames that ignited everything they touched. The flames twisted and seemed to attack the next closest vase, causing a chain of explosions.

The fire spread quickly like Yuuri had never seen – it chased the screaming bodies trying to flee the ballroom through servant doors, and they found dead ends when they discovered the exits were blocked by rubble.

There was another explosion close by – it sent Yuuri and Conrart flying away from the staircase onto the dance floor. Luckily Yuuri was able to raise a watery shield in time to protect them from the blast, but the breath was knocked from him as his back connected painfully with a large piece of debris on the floor.

Conrart landed several feet away, and did not immediately get to his feet.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, as Yuuri's brain struggled to process what was happening around him. He saw Wolfram at the foot of the stairs, in a very similar condition to Conrart. His fiancé appeared to be unconscious, a trickle of blood rolling down his face.

Yuuri lurched upwards with every intention of dragging Wolfram to safety, before a lightning strike of fire hit him squarely in the chest and had him flying backwards once again.

"My! My! My!" cackled a familiar voice from above. "Your Majesty! Are you quite alright? Can I get you some water?"

Groaning, Yuuri dragged his vision up to the top of the stairs, only to see the fiery form of Eliza slowly descending the steps. The green flames seemed to dance around her, and retract away from her feet.

"You're a maryoku-user…?" Yuuri was finding it difficult to talk with the amount of blood in his mouth.

"In so many words, yes." Eliza hummed. "When you're human, even rigorous training can take you only so far. And even then, the elements obey only a few of us. I cannot generate the fire I use, but it obeys me."

Another vase imploded in the distance, followed by the screams of those still trapped inside the ballroom. Bodies littered the floor, green fire beginning to catch on their colorful costumes. Yuuri knew he would have to do something before everyone in there burned or suffocated, but Eliza was blocking the only way out.

Without even thinking, Yuuri tapped into his maryoku and pulled water from the moisture in the air to create two towering water dragons. He siphoned off spouts of water and tried to extinguish the flames, but the water had no effect.

Eliza laughed at his attempts to put out the emerald fire, but made no further moves to attack him.

"What is this?!" Yuuri shouted thickly at the violet-eyed witch, his water dragons hissing in rage.

Yuuri had read about water-resistant fire in the human world. The Byzantine Empire developed it as a naval weapon, since the fire could float on water. 'Liquid fire' they called it. The downside being no one knew what it was made of, and often times the only way to get rid of it was to let it burn itself out.

"I heard how much you liked to save people," Eliza ignored his outraged question, and instead surveyed her handy work around the ballroom. "Too bad your element is useless here."

"Heika!" came Gwendal's muffled cry from somewhere behind him – a quick glance showed that the oldest of Cecille's children was trapped under a chunk of staircase that had been blown away.

Yuuri pushed the chunk of rock off of Gwendal with a blast of water, finding it took a lot more strength than he'd thought. Gwendal lurched to his feet and came to his king's defense.

"Heika." Gwendal murmured in concern, eyeing the blood dribbling from Yuuri's bitten tongue and down his chin. Yuuri wished he could tell him it wasn't serious, but there was no time.

"Feeling tired, Your Majesty?" Eliza's eyes sparkled.

"Who are you?" Yuuri hissed back.

"Eliza Quick, Sire." The witch replied dutifully and gave Yuuri a salute, "Agent of Big Shimeron and His Majesty, King Belar. Captain of the Human Witchcraft Unit."

"Witchcraft?!" Gwendal bellowed in outrage.

Yuuri was going to question her further, but Eliza had no intention of dragging things out. She raised her arms and to giant pillars of fire shot from the ground and slammed into the ceiling, causing the whole room to sway.

"I've seen things in the Temple of Shinou during my stay." Eliza almost sounded disappointed. "My King never did believe you, Yuuri."

Through the gaping hole that used to be the ballroom door, Yuuri could see the fire spreading farther and farther, going deeper into the castle. The domed ceiling was beginning to collapse, and the hot room was beginning to eat up all of the moisture. His dragons started to steam and evaporate.

"He told me to investigate your claims, and it turns out the Boxes have been here the whole time!" The witch laughed with delight as Yuuri looked around frantically. "Such a liar, Yuuri!"

"Gwendal!" Yuuri barked at the man beside him, who understood instantly and started to use his earth element maryoku to shift the rubble on top of the unconscious partiers.

But too many people were still trapped – stuck under debris, blocked from leaving by chunks of rock. The ceiling would collapse and kill them all before everyone could be freed.

"So he told me to pass this message on to you!" The violet eyed witch continued talking as if nothing was happening around her.

"He said, 'I'll show that brat what a _real war_ looks like!'"

Even the ground was shaking now, they were out of time. He could barely make out his enemy through the smoke.

Yuuri yelled in frustration and threw his power at her. Her glowing eyes widened slightly before his attack hit, but then she grinned, and as it made contact she was engulfed in a giant explosion that took out the rest of the stair case. Before the smoke had even cleared, Yuuri could no longer sense her and he knew she had escaped.

The force of the final explosion just made things worse. The cracks from the ballroom branched outwards into the hallways; no doubt the whole wing of the castle would collapse if something wasn't done.

Immediately the ceiling began to crumble, huge pieces of stone threatening to fall. He reached into himself and threw his raw power upwards, focusing on holding the ceiling together, in this room and the surrounding castle wing. He felt his knees buckle under the pressure, and knew he wouldn't be able to hold it for long.

"Your Majesty!"

There was a loud scraping of shifting rock, followed by the shouts of relief of his trapped party guests. Yuuri moved his head a fraction of an inch to glance over his shoulder.

Gunter had returned from the wine cellar just in time, and had used his maryoku to clear the debris blocking the servant exits. Colorful costumes began to disappear into the narrow servant passages, which Yuuri knew led underground and eventually out of the castle.

"Gunter!" Yuuri shouted at his aide, hoping the white haired man could hear him over the roaring flames. "Where is everyone?!" By everyone he meant Greta, Cecille, and the rest of his civilian family, which luckily Gunter seemed to understand.

"Safe, Sire, they've escaped!"

He felt like Atlas, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He couldn't let his relief weaken him.

"Where's Wolfram and Conrart?!" Gwendal was still beside him, somehow. The oldest of the brothers had kept himself busy by rolling debris off of trapped and injured guests, who were being carried out by anyone able-bodied.

Icy dread lanced through Yuuri when he realized he hadn't seen his blonde fiancé or godfather among the ones escaping. He almost faltered, but then-

"Here!" Conrart wheezed, appearing through the smoke and carrying a now-conscious (albeit dazed and immobilized) Wolfram.

His prime fighting force around him, he knew now was the best time to make a plan, though they would have to do it quickly.

"I can't move." Yuuri ground out to the mazoku around him. "Everything will fall if I do. But the fire is spreading, we need to…" Talking was becoming difficult, beads of sweat rolling down his face.

"The fire is weird…" Wolfram said dazedly, releasing a throaty cough. "It's not normal…green…"

"Conrart, take Wolfram out of here." Gunter snapped, taking off his heavy cloak and covering the blonde mazoku with it. "He has a concussion and has inhaled too much smoke. You have also."

Conrart seemed hesitant to move, looking worriedly to Yuuri. The double black fixed him with a steely glare, having no spare energy to argue with him. _You have to trust me, I'm not a kid anymore. _His godfather seemed to understand the words behind Yuuri's eyes, and bobbed his head in acceptance before running for the servant tunnels.

"Water is useless." Yuuri hissed to Gunter and Gwendal, feeling his feet slip millimeters at a time under the immeasurable weight. "It's like Greek fire. You have to suffocate it."

Even though Yuuri knew his comrades didn't know what Greek fire was, they seemed to understand.

"_Heika_, it's spreading through the castle."

Suddenly Josak was there, the spy covered in ashes and grime. Where he came from was a mystery to Yuuri, but he was glad to see the redhead all the same.

"Where have you been?" Gunter growled, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. The heat was getting to him.

"I got the Great Sage outta here," Josak shot back, eyes narrowing. "Seein' as how his bodyguard turned out ta be the enemy an' all—"

"Silence, you idiots!" Gwendal snapped, and turned to face Yuuri again. His face softened and he took a large napkin from his pocket, tying it around Yuuri's head to cover his mouth and nose. It would help keep the smoke out, but not for long. "Heika…Yuuri."

Gwendal was waiting for an order, he could tell. Yuuri's mind raced to find a solution to their predicament. It would take an immense amount of power to put all of it out; there was only one reasonable option—

"Contain it." Yuuri groaned, "Don't let it spread any farther. Evacuate anywhere it's touched. Once that's done, I'll collapse the ceiling on top of it. It's the quickest way."

The three men in front of him looked like they were going to be sick. The thought of destroying any part of this castle that was thousands of years old, and was also their own home, must have sounded borderline sacrilegious to them. Though maybe his vision was just distorting and they were perfectly fine with it.

"But Heika, how will _you_—"

"GO!" Yuuri shouted, and he could feel the deeper, commanding voice of the Maoh laced within his own. "_If you worry about me, I'll never forgive you!_"

It was harsh, but it sent the three men scrambling away from him. They jumped into action immediately, covering their faces with any cloth they had on hand and launching themselves up to the second floor to the former entrance of the ballroom. Gunter, Josak, and Gwendal all disappeared from his sight, bolting down separate hallways to begin evacuation.

He was alone now, nothing but him and the pieces of the ceiling slowly coming down as he fought a losing battle.

Is this what Murata felt like, fighting the boxes? Exhaustion, pressure, and the lives of many depending on you. He didn't even know where Murata had gone, only that he was safe wherever Josak had taken him.

He wanted to cough so badly, but he was afraid even the slightest jarring of his body would make him drop everything. The air was thick with smoke and green flame. It made his head feel dizzy and light, and he could see lights swim in his vision. He had never felt this tired before.

He wondered how much longer he would last – ten minutes? Two? How were Gwendal and Gunter and Josak even going to signal him? More holes in his plan kept coming to mind, and he found himself spiraling slowly into despair.

He could audibly hear his wounded shoulder creaking now, making a string of curses pass his bloodied lips. He couldn't feel anything at this point, but he had no doubt he was in excruciating pain.

"If I make it out of this," he heard himself panting, "I'm going to beat Belar's ass."

After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, the Maoh started to take over. He felt his body feeling light like a feather, like he was slowly going to sleep, as if the alter ego inside of him was trying to slowly pry the fingers of Yuuri's mind away from the control stick.

'_I don't have the energy for two battles, Maoh_'. Yuuri found himself thinking inwardly and hoping the ancient power could hear him, for he no longer was able to speak. _'Leave me be.'_

_You'll die. _

The personality in his mind rarely spoke to him directly or even communicated with him at all. Usually the entity simply wrenched away control and solved the situation himself, leaving Yuuri disoriented and with a blank space in his memory afterwards. Maybe it was the Maoh's desire for self-preservation that was driving him to cooperate with Yuuri.

_'Something tells me that might happen anyways.' _Yuuri sounded tired, even in his mind.

_I can help you. I'll collapse the ceilings and put out the fire._

_'And then what? I'll die, just like Julia? Or I'll pass out and be crushed to death?'_

_Maybe. _The tone of his words was interest, and Yuuri wondered if he even understood death. _But you have good friends. I'll protect you for as long as I can, and I'm sure they'll be able to find you before I am completely depleted._

_'You're stubborn, and really stupid, you know that?'_

_I know a certain mazoku that would say the same about you._

_'Wolfram…' _Yuuri was really going to miss him, if he wasn't able to escape.

The Maoh sounded like he was going to coax Yuuri more, and then paused.

_They've finished. The hallways are sealed, and it looks like they're circling around the outside of the castle to come and get you._

Now was the moment of truth, they both knew it. Yuuri looked up again, and saw the chunks of ceiling were now only a few feet above him. His comrades wouldn't make it in time.

_'Alright, Maoh. Let's see what you can do.'_

With the words, he thrust control over to the Maoh, and then many things happened in a single second.

Firstly, there was a brief lapse in the power he was using to hold up the ceiling. Every chunk of rock he had been holding up throughout the castle wing began to plummet downwards. Yuuri looked up to face the wall of debris coming to end him.

Secondly, his vision began to blur and darken instantly. He was never conscious when the Maoh took control, it caused too much damage to his body.

Also, in that last second before Yuuri passed out, it felt like a dam of power broke inside him, and raw energy began to spill out. The ground felt like it was shaking and trying to peel away from his feet, the air seemed to ignite around him. The might of the Maoh was always something to behold.

_'I better make it out of this, Maoh.'_ Yuuri chided lightly before his vision went completely black.

The only answer the Maoh had to offer him was an amused chuckle.

* * *

**Wooo! Cliffhanger! I bet you guys thought he was gonna be poisoned by the wine. whoops. **

**And uh, yeah. Little blurb about liquid fire in this chapter. The more popular name fore it is "Greek Fire", like Yuuri referred to it. It existed (it really was invented by the Byzantine Empire!), and to this day no one knows the exact composition of it. Like I said, I like history. You'll probably learn a lot about combat and war tactics while reading this, though Ill try not to sound like a complete nerd lmao. **

**Anyways, thanks for reading! Drop me a review if you enjoyed.**


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